UFC Fighter George Sotiropoulos Moves Up the Lightweight Rankings

AUSTRALIA'S George Sotiropoulos believes he is within three fights of conquering the UFC's talent-stacked lightweight division.

George Sotiropoulos lands a blow against Joe Stevenson during their lightweight fight in Sydney. Photo: Getty Images

Riding an incredible six-fight winning streak, and on the back of his domination against household name Joe Stevenson in Sydney last February, Sotiropoulos has emerged as a serious contender.

Sotiropoulos believes two more victories would put him in line to face the lightweight titleholder - currently Frankie Edgar, who has a rematch with rival BJ Penn at UFC 118 in August.

As he approaches a showdown with Kurt Pellegrino at UFC 116 in Las Vegas on July 3, Sotiropoulos is feeling more confident by the day.

Asked how many fights he believed it would take him to land a title shot, Sotiropoulos told the Herald: "I would say maybe two fights.

"But I don't look past my opponents.

"I would say a win [against Pellegrino] would put me in the upper echelon of the lightweight division (70kg).

"As always, if I keep winning it is going to put me against the best.

"You can make plans beyond a fight but until that fight happens those plans won't amount to anything."

Now residing in the Washington city of Vancouver, Sotiropoulos will have one more week of serious training before easing back prior to the fight.

He sees an advantage in fighting Pellegrino after Stevenson, who he defeated by unanimous decision over all three rounds at the Acer Arena in the UFC's debut Australian show.

"In many ways he is similar to my last opponent, they both have wrestling backgrounds," said Sotiropoulos, unbeaten in his five fights since entering the UFC and with a 12-2 professional record with featuring stoppages.

"I think Stevenson is stronger, Pellegrino (15-4 with 12 stoppages) is more agile and faster. I think their ground games are on par.

"I think they are equal calibre as fighters, I think Stevenson's boxing is a little better.

"Their business is in wrestling, they go back to that in times of need, they look for the top position. It's all about wrestling for them.

"My regime hasn't changed, you can't change the way you prepare because it makes you fight differently to the way you normally fight.

"I study my opponents very closely. I have got all their UFC fights, I am well informed of their previous fights.

"The key for me is to work on everything, I don't ignore anything in my training, I pay equal attention to everything: jiu-jitsu, boxing, MMA, wrestling.

"I have to make my strengths part of my game plan, and impose my strengths against him.

"I have prepared for all avenues. if I end up on the ground, I can do well from there. Any scenario, I am prepared for. I address it all."

This guy has the potential to become an Australian legend. He reckons he is two or three fights from the title and I agree, if not sooner, he looks great and is a very rounded and dedicated fighter.

His win in front of his home crowd elicited one of the wildest responses I have ever witnessed from an Australian sporting audience, we might as well have won the World Cup (in rugby union). Although he is not yet widely known, he will soon capture the mainstream as Australia's media have a change of heart and MMA, the once described "brutal" sport of "human cockfighting" will become "a beautiful display of honour and skill".

If, wait, when he takes the title, watch out world, Australia very well might take over the ranks due to the increased exposure.

That's awesome. A good write up and it appears as though they are writing it up as a legitimate sport! Which is awesome. I hope he gets it, I think he will, he's looking awesome. And I agree, once the doors open...oh **** is there gonna be a flood!

Wrestling is the missing element, yes. But I don't think we are that disadvantaged by it. Our kickboxing/ muay Thai is world class, our boxing is decent and our jits has been representing world wide for a while. I believe our rugby league and union culture means we grow up putting people on the ground and attempting to control them. Its not the same thing as wrestling, obviously, but some of the skills many Aussie kids use while playing games like tackle run across and one on one footy mean we aren't strangers to picking people up and slamming them down.

Wrestling is the missing element, yes. But I don't think we are that disadvantaged by it. Our kickboxing/ muay Thai is world class, our boxing is decent and our jits has been representing world wide for a while. I believe our rugby league and union culture means we grow up putting people on the ground and attempting to control them. Its not the same thing as wrestling, obviously, but some of the skills many Aussie kids use while playing games like tackle run across and one on one footy mean we aren't strangers to picking people up and slamming them down.

It is just the majority of people who want to fight, strike. Our boxing club has about 50 people and our MMA club has about 5 you would think that given the popularity of League in FNQ here there would be more people giving grappling in general a look. MMA just loses that base of hard competitive people.

I also think that the wrestlers and the BJJers just dont mix with each other enough. I know there is good wrestling in Melbs but I have never heard of any of them who consider themselves part of the martial arts comunity.

On the plus side, and the reason we even have MMA in Arlie. Brazilians are considering Australia as an atractive destination to live. (Less Violence aparently) So if that continues the standard of instruction will go through the roof and we will have a real shot.

Wrestling is the missing element, yes. But I don't think we are that disadvantaged by it. Our kickboxing/ muay Thai is world class, our boxing is decent and our jits has been representing world wide for a while. I believe our rugby league and union culture means we grow up putting people on the ground and attempting to control them. Its not the same thing as wrestling, obviously, but some of the skills many Aussie kids use while playing games like tackle run across and one on one footy mean we aren't strangers to picking people up and slamming them down.